A wet, warm summer in western Pennsylvania may have increased the risk of tick bites and Lyme disease.

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WTAE Channel 4 Action News anchor Sally Wiggin said one reason is that the Northeast has seen a bumper crop of acorns, which can increase the population for the white-footed mouse, one of the carriers of the tick larvae that cause Lyme.

"So far this summer, I have not noticed an increase in the amount of tick bites on a day-to-day basis. I would say, in the last six months, I have seen maybe two or three patients with a tick bite," said Dr. Christina Armanious, of Excela Health. "We are in an area where we are prone to ticks, but not certainly an endemic area. An area that we need to be more concerned about is anywhere along the Northeast, from Maine to northern Virginia -- specifically, Connecticut is a very endemic area for ticks."

Leyla Pilon-Sinclair, of Greensburg, began showing symptoms in 2009 that included chronic fatigue, joint pain, muscle pain, headaches and difficulty with walking and thinking. She never saw the common bull's-eye rash nor saw a tick.

Routine blood work showed nothing, and several doctors diagnosed her with depression. Two years later, she asked her doctor for a Lyme test after doing a lot of online investigating.

"The first test came back negative," Pilon-Sinclair said. "But I had read enough about it that the first test they give you usually presents a 70 percent false negative, so I asked for the second test, and the second test proved positive."

Armanious, a doctor of internal medicine, said Lyme disease is a tough one to diagnose.

"You have to really dig deep, and this is where the history and physical is going to play the most important role, and so by asking detailed questions -- 'Well, have you traveled anywhere in the last 6 months to even a year, or even a few years ago? Did you ever notice a rash?' -- and see and weigh their options. If they do have these risk factors, then I will jump in and test the blood work. If they say no and don't recall, then I would certainly check screening blood work. But if still persisting, you always need to keep it in the back of your mind to check blood tests," Armanious said.

Had Pilon-Sinclair not been such an advocate for herself, it's possible that she could have ended up with arthritis, blindness or heart disease. After eight months of antibiotics, she is free of symptoms and not afraid of the woods.

"I do live in southwestern Pennsylvania. I do live a little bit in the country. It's out there," she said.

Use insect repellent with DEET or wear bug-repellent clothing to help protect yourself if you are in wooded, busy areas.